Giving Back

Location: Brewer's Bay

Today was amongst the most tiring, yet fulfilling days of the summer yet! We woke up earlier than usual, which usually consists of everybody waking up starting breakfast and then someone hitting me in order to wake me up. After our early breakfast, we went to Tortola to help the Go Beyond program clear out an abandoned house that had been destroyed by Irma. This work is so important not only because it restarts people’s homes and workplaces but also because it helps restore the BVIs to their previous state of beauty, which helps their economy tremendously as it is mainly based on tourism. After a couple hours of work, we came back to the boat for lunch which was everyone’s favorite, ramen! Then we did one of our final skill dives to complete our search and recovery certifications. Although it was not a “fun dive” it ended up being really enjoyable. We descended in buddy groups as usual and worked together to find weight that was hidden in the sand, and lift it to the surface using new techniques we learned. After the dive, we hung out on deck waiting for everyone to complete their dive and then did the final parts of our Emergency First Responder certification – learning how to treat victims of serious bleeding, spinal injury, and shock. After that, we showered and swam in the bay and had dinner. After this, we will have a bit more EFR to learn in the videos and written work, and then we will go to bed after a long but rememberable day!